Reflection

Overall, this project was a great learning opportunity as we came started this quarter with little knowledge about the user-centered design process. This class allowed us to explore different design methods and apply them to create the Chefy app.

Project Reflection

What would you do differently?

One thing we would do differently is interviewing a wider group of users during the research phase. For example, we didn't interview college students living in dorms or male students which may have led to different insights. The user research phase is the most important because everything else in the design process is based on users' needs so if we are not fully capturing our target demographic, we may be missing important features.

What would you do if you had more time?

If we had more time, we would build out the functions in our hi-fi prototype. A few features like sharing a recipe with a friend aren't fully prototyped. Due to the time constraints, the design of some of our screens was chosen based on their simplicity, not necessarily their effectiveness. Therefore, we would want to spend some time making sure the pathways are logical and revise some of the designs to make them look more cohesive. On a similar note, we would want to do more user testing. When we did user testing this quarter, we used our lo-fi prototype which didn't have all the right pathways at that time. Furthermore, some of the features weren't fully functional so the feedback we got was limited.

What was your biggest challenge?

Completing this entire design sprint online was a huge challenge within this project. Asynchronous work prevented us from in-the-moment feedback from team members, leading to certain disconnects within the lo-fi prototype that showed in our experience evaluation. Additionally, finding participants willing to be involved in user testing was a hurdle online and we had to rely on personal contacts which could have led to bias within the project. Overall, while working over zoom clearly doesn't replace in-person collaboration, we worked hard to regularly communicate with each other and follow internal deadlines strictly, and are proud of the work we were able to come up with.

What was the most surprising thing in this project?

The most surprising thing in this project was the number of resources online to assist with app development and the design process as a whole. We were able to use sites to make our storyboards, user journey map, organize our interview notes, and develop the app itself. Having all of these resources made collaborating virtually easier because we were able to work in real-time with one another even though we were working over zoom. We were able to keep all of our notes on an extensive Miro board that allowed for us to comment on one another's user research and other contributions. Learning how to use these sites, especially Figma, constantly surprised us because of the endless tools we had access to.

Team Reflection

How did your team work together?

Our team did an amazing job working together as we communicated effectively via text message and all attended class. We allowed one another to share personal opinions and suggestions for the various parts of the project and gave constructive feedback to one another. As a team, we were efficient and completed all of our projects in a timely manner, and distributed work amongst ourselves evenly. Overall we worked well together, learned a lot from all of our peers, and enjoyed working on this project.